It is well-known that spirits may be served from a bottle at, for example, a bar or a restaurant. This method lacks security and precise accountability as it leaves the bottles with the spirits accessible to not only the bartender but to others. In a large-scale setting such as a cruise ship or a resort more security and accountability is desired to prevent losses due, for example, to pilfering, or imprecise and irregular serving practices by the staff.
Automated spirit delivery systems have been proposed.
A well-known automated spirit delivery system for serving spirits includes a storage room that stores spirits in individual bottles. In this system, each bottle stored in the storage room is connected via a fluid line to a dispenser located, for example, at a bartender's station elsewhere. A pump or the like supplies the spirit to a dispenser located at a bar or bartender's station. The dispenser may be equipped with a device that controls the amount (shots) of spirit that is poured. The system may also be equipped with a device that tracks the amount of spirit poured.
Since the storage room can be secured and the supply of spirit can be controlled this system is desirable for settings such as resorts, hotels and cruise ships. However, this system has a number of drawbacks. Significantly, the system is not portable from one location to another location in that the storage room, which is integral to the operation of the system, cannot be moved. Thus, this system cannot, for example, be used when the location of the event needing service is not near the bar or the bartender's station that is connected to the storage room. In addition, the storage room in such a system is often large in order to accommodate the large number of bottles needed to provide service to the patrons. In relatively small places such as cruise ships, such a system presents problems. For example, the storage room would occupy much needed space.
Furthermore, the empty spirit bottles would have to be stored somewhere, which is yet another problem for a cruise ship in particular.
Moreover, spirit bottles whether filled with spirits or empty are valuable, which means some security would have to be provided for the spirits in the bottle and the empty bottles to prevent pilfering.
In addition, the distance between the storage room and the point of delivery of the spirit (the bar or the bartender's station) is long, which means that a lot of spirit is stored in the lines from the storage room to the point of delivery. It is needless to say that in this configuration much of the stock of spirit always remains in the fluid lines, which means that a significant volume of stock must be invested merely to render the system operational. When the system is serviced, the spirit in the lines must be emptied out and discarded, which clearly leads to a significant loss of product. Thus, when the lines are in need of disinfecting (which is relatively often), much product is discarded and then replaced with an equivalent replacement volume. Naturally, one can easily see that the maintenance of such a system is costly.